Category Archives: Entertainment

Landmark Theater Sold-Out For Tonight’s Lincoln Event

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From the Times Dispatch article:

Director Steven Spielberg, screenwriter Tony Kushner and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin — whose collaboration created the multinominated movie filmed entirely in the Richmond area — will speak tonight at the sold-out Landmark Theater before an audience of 4,200 people.
“Lincoln” has been nominated for seven Golden Globe awards and is expected to pick up several Oscar nominations on Thursday. Kushner’s screenplay was nominated for a Writer’s Guild award for best adaptation.
The Richmond Forum program will be taped for broadcast on WCVE at 9 p.m. Jan. 17 to accommodate “so many more that we couldn’t possibly fit in,” said Bill Chapman, executive director of the forum.
When Chapman heard that “Lincoln” would film here in late 2011, he immediately thought of a program featuring Spielberg and Goodwin, who has appeared twice before at Richmond Forum programs. Her book, “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” was an inspiration for the movie.
“The idea started as a pipe dream,” Chapman said. “She loved the idea. When she was in Richmond during the filming, she talked with Spielberg.”
Chapman’s own overtures to Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios had begun in June 2011 and picked up during the filming, he said. “It was Spielberg’s idea to bring Kushner into the conversation. It was a great addition. Doris Kearns Goodwin is the beginning of the story as a historian. Kushner interpreted her work for the screen. It makes a nice continuum for the discussion,” Chapman said. “We were very excited about that.”
The forum’s season will continue with former President Bill Clinton on Feb. 8; former astronaut Capt. Mark Kelly with former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, his wife and survivor of an assassination attempt, on March 9; and Jane Goodall on April 13.

Tom Elliott’s Art

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As some Oregon Hill residents will head down to Broad Street for tonight’s First Friday Art Walk, former OH resident and longtime artist will be opening a show in Charlottesville.

Former Oregon Hill resident and neighborhood historian Tom Elliott has an exhibit of his ceramic sculptures in the Charlottesville Chroma gallery. This exhibit includes a tea-pot called “Richmond Burning” that was inspired by the mortise and tenon joints in the construction of his former home at 401 S. Pine Street, built in 1867 by Baylor Martin. According to the Chroma write-up:
Charlottesville’s building code inspector, Tom Elliott, unveils his secret life as a ceramic artist. Elliott transforms food, farce and politics into teapots, weaponry, and a few other household necessities and personal items in his installation Mad Tea Party Redux in the Black Box. Employing a playful anti-aesthetic rawness and a visual vocabulary of double entendre and riddle, Elliott upturns the traditional ceremonial refinement and polite countenance of the porcelain teapot.

Dominion Donates $2 Million To Landmark Theater Renovation

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Excerpt from Times Dispatch article:

Dominion Resources Inc. is donating $2 million toward the $50 million renovation of the Landmark Theater.
In return, the stage at the performing arts complex near Virginia Commonwealth University’s academic campus will be known as the Dominion Stage.
CenterStage Executive Director Richard M. Parison Jr., Dominion Resources CEO Thomas F. Farrell II and Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones announced the gift Thursday night before the Richmond Ballet’s performance of “The Nutcracker” at CenterStage’s Carpenter Theatre. Dominion Resources has sponsored the ballet since 2009.
The 3,565-seat playhouse will become the Altria Theater next year. Altria Group Inc., the parent company of Philip Morris USA, bought the 20-year naming rights from the city for $10 million in July.
Due to be completed in 2014, the building’s renovation will include new restrooms, fire alarm controls, façade repairs, emergency lighting, roofing work, box-office and office improvements, new elevators and concession areas, as well as seating and theater-system upgrades.
The theater is hosting performances during the renovation, with shows scheduled around the work.

Free holiday performance set for December 9 at Landmark Theater

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Editors’ Note: Attached photo is from the 2011 production.

From City press release:

Richmond, VA –The City’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities will present its annual holiday gift to the city, its free production of “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” at 4 p.m. on Sunday, December 9, at the Landmark Theater.

The one-act family musical composed by Gian Carlo Minotti was commissioned by NBC and broadcast live for the premiere of Hallmark Hall of Fame on Dec. 24, 1951. A heart-warming holiday classic that will charm both children and adults, it tells the story of the mischievous shepherd boy Amahl and his mother and how their lives are changed forever after meeting three kings.

The work is thought by some to be the most frequently produced opera in the world, and this will be the 51st year that the department has offered this holiday production to the public for free.

No reservations are required, and seating is based on a first-come, first-served basis.

Landmark Theater Reopens Tonight with Free Concert

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From the Times Dispatch:

Richmond’s Landmark Theater is reopening after a $50 million renovation.
The theater, which had been closed since July for façade work, roof repairs and other renovations, reopened Monday, the facility’s management company announced.
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The Landmark will host a free concert tonight. The U.S. Army Chorus will perform with the Richmond Pops Band at 7:30 p.m. Call (804) 275-5253 for more details.